No one who’s ever played the game of baseball has been immune to a hitting slump of some degree from time to time, and Jacob Nottingham was recently reminded he’s no exception to the rule.

Nottingham seems to have found a light at the end of the tunnel, though, as the past two weeks have seen him rediscover the stroke that fueled his rise as a Major League Baseball catching prospect out of Redlands High School.

“Baseball is so weird; one day you can feel great at the plate and the next day you feel like it’s not the same,” said Nottingham, who has 20 games remaining in his first season with the Milwaukee Brewers’ Double-A affiliate, the Biloxi Shuckers. “You just want to be consistent, but this game doesn’t allow that.”

Indeed, change has been one of the only constant factors in Nottingham’s experience since being drafted in the sixth round of the MLB amateur draft by the Houston Astros out of high school in 2013.

Following a February trade that made him a Brewers farmhand, Nottingham found himself in the unusual position of having switched MLB organizations three times in as many years since his initial signing.

It’s a phenomenon that Nottingham said has been both upsetting and confusing at times and he admits he just hasn’t felt as comfortable this season.

While he can always take extra swings in the cage or spend time fine-tuning his throwing mechanics to find his way on the field, acheiving stability amid the whirlwind of unpredicatability surrounding his career path over the last two years has been something far out of his control.

“I thought the first trade was weird just because it had never happened to me, but I think the second trade wasn’t as hard on me,” said Nottingham, who was first traded from the Astros to the Oakland Athletics in the middle of the 2015 season. “(Teammates) have told me a lot of great things about the Brewers and I’m just excited. I know they’re rebuilding and I’m just glad I’m going to be a part of that.”

Changing addresses is par for the course in the minors; in fact the better a prospect is, the faster they will change jerseys as they move up the ladder from rookie ball to Triple-A.

So playing for six teams in three seasons, as Nottingham has, isn’t all that remarkable, but most prospects don’t get included in multiple big-league trades before they even clear Single-A.

In both cases, Nottingham has been a trade chip included in a package to bring back an established major leaguer.

Last year Oakland deemed Nottingham and minor league pitcher Daniel Mengden sufficient compensation for sending left-hander Scott Kazmir, an 11-year MLB veteran and three-time All-Star, to Houston for its stretch run.

“I just didn’t think it would happen so early in my career and I had so many good friends on the Astros building good relationships,” Nottingham said. “I just didn’t know how to deal with the trade, I didn’t know why I got traded or anything like that. Looking back now, I get it.”

After finishing out the 2015 season with Oakland’s Stockton affiliate, batting .316 with 17 home runs and 82 RBI in 119 games overall across Single-A and Class A-Advanced, Nottingham entered 2016 as Baseball Prospectus’ No. 66 prospect.

He was invited to the A’s spring training camp and reported to Arizona a couple of weeks early to participate in workouts. But just a few days after arriving he was packaged in a deal again — this time for Khris Davis, a 28-year-old outfielder who has a career-high 30 home runs for Oakland this year.

He made his spring training debut in Arizona with the Brewers and got his first real taste of big league life.

“It was definitely eye-opening because just four or five years earlier you’re a freshman and your goal is to be in the big leagues,” Nottingham said. “Just to be in the locker room with those guys at a young age, it’s awesome. You don’t think it’s going to happen and then it finally does and you have to just embrace it and soak it all up and ask as many questions as you can.”

Nottingham soaked up plenty of knowledge from the Brewers’ All-Star shortstop Jonathan Lucroy, whom Milwaukee traded away in July, furthering speculation that the club does indeed have Nottingham pegged as its backstop of the not-too-distant future.

“That helps (my outlook), but I’ve still got to do my part and work hard every day,” Nottingham said. “(Lucroy) was awesome with me and helped me learn the game and how to be a catcher. He’s gone now, but the only thing I can do is focus on what I need to do and get better here. Hopefully sooner than later I’m in the big leagues helping that team win some ballgames.”

Playing in the majors has been Nottingham’s dream for as long as he can remember and Redlands’ baseball coach says he saw plenty of innate talent in Nottingham even when he arrived on campus as a “short, pudgy” freshman.

“With Jacob there was always something different about him,” Estevan Valencia said. “Not only was a he a good baseball player on the field, but he just had some great instincts.”

A sophomore-year growth spurt put Nottingham on the fast track to his current 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame and college and pro scouts became a fixture at his high school games.

“I tried to pretend (scouts) were just fans in the crowd just so I didn’t put so much pressure on myself,” Nottingham said. “It was a great experience (being scouted) and going through all that with my family and here I am today.”

Valencia said he’s stayed in touch with Nottingham and frequently checks the Shuckers’ website to follow his progress.

“His teammates and people in the community are all keeping an eye on him,” Valencia said. “Everybody is excited about him, especially because of the trades he’s been involved in and because he’s considered a top prospect.”

Nottingham had a slow start with Biloxi, then turned it on in April and May and earned a Southern League All-Star nod in June.

He hit just .173 in July, but has rebounded by going 11 for 29 since Aug. 8 with two homers and six runs batted in.

Even if he can finish out the year at that pace, Nottingham won’t bat .300 again this year. But he will likely be back in camp with the Brewers in the spring. Inevitably he’ll be ticketed for more seasoning in the minors in 2017, but if he can continue to progress against increasingly better competition, next season might also hold a big-league debut.

“It’s been a weird year, but the best thing to do is just keep grinding it out and just keep working on the things I’ve been working on all year,” Nottingham said. “I’ve got 20 games left, so I’m just trying to finish this year strong.”